OP, to answer your question about Great Schools ratings, it is best to look at the raw data (demographics and test scores) but ignore the scores completely. They seem almost random. I think at one point I checked and Tubman had the same score as Janney or one of those other Deal ESs. If I were you I would wait to see what happens with the feeder patterns and boundaries. If they stay the same, and you can afford it, move to Woodley (Oyster) or Mount Pleasant (Bancroft), if you want Deal/Wilson, or else Dupont (Ross), or Adams Morgan (Marie Reed), maybe some others. There are some good elementary schools in urban neighborhoods.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh good Lord. Tubman built up their scores the old fashioned hard work way, with intensive tutoring every Saturday. One year, they moved something like 50% of their kids from below basic to basic. The next year, all those same kids (a grade older) moved from basic to proficient. Look at the data behind the numbers and you'll see a lot of hard work.

Tubman is an excellent school - the kids are well-behaved and engaged, their Kindergarten teachers are engaging and first-rate, and they have an option for boys only teaching starting in 4th grade, which I think is fabulous.

Why isn't DCUM flocking to this school? Because there are almost 100% Hispanic and Black kids there, and no one wants their kid to be the "only White kid" there. It's the same reason DCUM'ers reject Banneker.

I've been thinking for a long time that someone in CH needs to rally together a bunch of families to make the investment together (it's less scary in a group). I wish we had.

Because most of DCUM isn't low SES.

That's very interesting information. Apparently Tubman has chosen to learn from KIPP. There are education strategies that work for certain demographics and Tubman (unlike most of DCPS) has chosen to employ them so that their students can excel. It's too bad this information isn't more widely available. If I were a parent with limited resources, but unlimited hope for my child, I would put Tubman on my list with KIPP and DC Prep.

So nice to hear from someone with actual information, as opposed to conjecture. I can't believe people actually make decisions based on what they read on this board.

Anonymous wrote:Oh good Lord. Tubman built up their scores the old fashioned hard work way, with intensive tutoring every Saturday. One year, they moved something like 50% of their kids from below basic to basic. The next year, all those same kids (a grade older) moved from basic to proficient. Look at the data behind the numbers and you'll see a lot of hard work.

Tubman is an excellent school - the kids are well-behaved and engaged, their Kindergarten teachers are engaging and first-rate, and they have an option for boys only teaching starting in 4th grade, which I think is fabulous.

Why isn't DCUM flocking to this school? Because there are almost 100% Hispanic and Black kids there, and no one wants their kid to be the "only White kid" there. It's the same reason DCUM'ers reject Banneker.

I've been thinking for a long time that someone in CH needs to rally together a bunch of families to make the investment together (it's less scary in a group). I wish we had.

Because most of DCUM isn't low SES.

That's very interesting information. Apparently Tubman has chosen to learn from KIPP. There are education strategies that work for certain demographics and Tubman (unlike most of DCPS) has chosen to employ them so that their students can excel. It's too bad this information isn't more widely available. If I were a parent with limited resources, but unlimited hope for my child, I would put Tubman on my list with KIPP and DC Prep.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Before you buy West of Rick Creek for the schools, read up on redistricting that may happen. If you want to buy somewhere more fun, you could always move later. Elementary school is a long way off of you aren't even pregnant yet (that said, if you do decide to move to a "hip" neighborhood, I think you are smart to try to identify an up and coming school district). Or if you can afford it, Ross is great and is near 14th street.

Yikes, don't bank on Ross! People love it, but it's so small that even siblings may have a tough time getting in!

Good luck, whatever you decide to do.

If you live inbounds, you "get in." Even to Ross.

You may however have to pay for preschool/daycare for your 3-4 yr old, just like in the days of yore. That is, pre-2010.

Oh good Lord. Tubman built up their scores the old fashioned hard work way, with intensive tutoring every Saturday. One year, they moved something like 50% of their kids from below basic to basic. The next year, all those same kids (a grade older) moved from basic to proficient. Look at the data behind the numbers and you'll see a lot of hard work.

Tubman is an excellent school - the kids are well-behaved and engaged, their Kindergarten teachers are engaging and first-rate, and they have an option for boys only teaching starting in 4th grade, which I think is fabulous.

Why isn't DCUM flocking to this school? Because there are almost 100% Hispanic and Black kids there, and no one wants their kid to be the "only White kid" there. It's the same reason DCUM'ers reject Banneker.

I've been thinking for a long time that someone in CH needs to rally together a bunch of families to make the investment together (it's less scary in a group). I wish we had.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in the area and think that the problem with most of the schools, including Tubman, is that people will stay in the early years and bail when they can. We are looking to move. (Struck out in the lottery this year.)

THIS. There are less than a dozen DCPS schools that parents love, and only one of them is EotP (Brent). Every other DCPS is a "work in progress" and parents will absolutely lie and say they're "all in!" right up until they tell you that they are:

A) just accepted to one of the great charters
B) just got lucky in the OOB lottery
C) have decided to move to FFX or MoCo

DCPS boosters will howl in protest, but its true. Nobody who cares about education wants their child in one of "those" schools by the time they hit the testing grades. It would only affirm that you made a terrible parenting decision that is starkly compromising your child's future.

You know, there are a lot of people who send their kids to schools that are not popular on this board (read: not WotP) who do actually care about education. They just don't post here. Be more of a snob, please. We certainly haven't heard enough about how wonderful it is WotP.

- parent of student at EotP elementary school, all in at that school until grade 5

I agree. I do know families that are choosing to stay in schools like Bancroft, Marie Reed, West and Shepherd. If families do leave, because they value something like Montessori expeditionary learning that the IB DCPS doesn't offer. And people don't say much about diversity on this forum because they equate it with low-quality, but we like charters because we place high value on diversity and charters do it well. I actually get a little nervous at the idea of sending my kid to nearly homogenous schools WOTP. Even suburban schools have more of a mix than JKLM. Hearst looks great for diversity, but even if we lived IB (and it's something we've considered) I'm not comfortable with the stigma placed on OOB kids.

To the OP, I'll say that everything with schools is in flux and changing rapidly. There's a noticable boom of families in the EOTP areas you talk about, and access to both charters and WOTP schools is diminishing - so it stands to reason that many are going to stay and make their schools work. That's how Brent rose and it will definitely happen in other places.

Our home in Petworth has doubled in value in the last 3 years. With new retail and restaurants coming in all the time, I can only see it going up. There's no downside to buying where you want to be right now and then see where things stand in a few years. You can and probably will resell for an upgrade if that's what you want.

AA CH resident here. I agree there is some racial tension that needs to be addressed. They need a professional who can go in and treat the situation with the sensitivity and focus it deserves.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tubman definitely has a core group of very supportive parents. However, there were some major issues when the PTA head was white. Apparently the principal wasn't going to let that go too far. (check the archives, there were definitely threads discussing this). Tubman is at an ongoing disadvantage in that Columbia Village Public Housing feeds to it and that is a notoriously troubled complex and the root of quite a bit of crime and violence in CH. PP are right, look in sections of Petworth to be IB for Barnard, West, Powell and maybe even Bruce Monroe.
Signed, '
former CH resident, but had a kid and moved to Petwroth.

I'm always baffled by these Tubman threads. Their scores are SO much higher than the other schools you mention--something good must be going on, but DCUMers are too scared to find out.

Scores are only part of the picture. If some parents are made to feel like gentrifying interlopers every time they make a suggestion then thats a huge problem to overcome.

Every time? How many times are we talking? One?

NP, but based on what I have heard, Tubman is not a school that appreciates white families coming into the PTA and sees it as a real threat. That is why it was not on my list.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tubman definitely has a core group of very supportive parents. However, there were some major issues when the PTA head was white. Apparently the principal wasn't going to let that go too far. (check the archives, there were definitely threads discussing this). Tubman is at an ongoing disadvantage in that Columbia Village Public Housing feeds to it and that is a notoriously troubled complex and the root of quite a bit of crime and violence in CH. PP are right, look in sections of Petworth to be IB for Barnard, West, Powell and maybe even Bruce Monroe.
Signed, '
former CH resident, but had a kid and moved to Petwroth.

I'm always baffled by these Tubman threads. Their scores are SO much higher than the other schools you mention--something good must be going on, but DCUMers are too scared to find out.

Scores are only part of the picture. If some parents are made to feel like gentrifying interlopers every time they make a suggestion then thats a huge problem to overcome.

Every time? How many times are we talking? One?

Anonymous wrote:Before you buy West of Rick Creek for the schools, read up on redistricting that may happen. If you want to buy somewhere more fun, you could always move later. Elementary school is a long way off of you aren't even pregnant yet (that said, if you do decide to move to a "hip" neighborhood, I think you are smart to try to identify an up and coming school district). Or if you can afford it, Ross is great and is near 14th street.

Yikes, don't bank on Ross! People love it, but it's so small that even siblings may have a tough time getting in!

Good luck, whatever you decide to do.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tubman definitely has a core group of very supportive parents. However, there were some major issues when the PTA head was white. Apparently the principal wasn't going to let that go too far. (check the archives, there were definitely threads discussing this). Tubman is at an ongoing disadvantage in that Columbia Village Public Housing feeds to it and that is a notoriously troubled complex and the root of quite a bit of crime and violence in CH. PP are right, look in sections of Petworth to be IB for Barnard, West, Powell and maybe even Bruce Monroe.
Signed, '
former CH resident, but had a kid and moved to Petwroth.

I'm always baffled by these Tubman threads. Their scores are SO much higher than the other schools you mention--something good must be going on, but DCUMers are too scared to find out.

The other goofy thing is that it feeds to CHEC, which is dual language, but Tubman is not. Very poorly thought out (as it typical).

Same issue with Cooke. But then you have a school like Bancroft that doesn't. Again, not very well thought out.

And until McFarland closed, neither did Powell.

And the weird plan of yanking Oyster-Adams from Wilson sends it to Cardozo, not CHEC.

Immersion is an afterthought in DCPS, not a plan. It is default, not design.

Go tour Tubman to get a feel for the school. Garrison and Powell are getting talked up on these threads but those posts don't have much substance behind them.

Garrison, in particular, is in terrible shape and has poor scores. We took a tour and though the principal appeared dedicated, the school was chaotic.

Stay away from GreatSchools and read the actual data, which clearly ranks Tubman significantly higher. They are doing much better than the DC average and are up there with many of the popular charter schools as far as results.

Tubman: http://profiles.dcps.dc.gov/pdf/328_2013.pdf
Garrison: http://profiles.dcps.dc.gov/pdf/239_2013.pdf

Obviously data is only part of the picture (and I encourage you to read the other stats not just the academic results, e.g. retention of teachers, student satisfaction, suspension rate etc)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tubman definitely has a core group of very supportive parents. However, there were some major issues when the PTA head was white. Apparently the principal wasn't going to let that go too far. (check the archives, there were definitely threads discussing this). Tubman is at an ongoing disadvantage in that Columbia Village Public Housing feeds to it and that is a notoriously troubled complex and the root of quite a bit of crime and violence in CH. PP are right, look in sections of Petworth to be IB for Barnard, West, Powell and maybe even Bruce Monroe.
Signed, '
former CH resident, but had a kid and moved to Petwroth.

I'm always baffled by these Tubman threads. Their scores are SO much higher than the other schools you mention--something good must be going on, but DCUMers are too scared to find out.

The other goofy thing is that it feeds to CHEC, which is dual language, but Tubman is not. Very poorly thought out (as it typical).

Same issue with Cooke. But then you have a school like Bancroft that doesn't. Again, not very well thought out.

And until McFarland closed, neither did Powell.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tubman definitely has a core group of very supportive parents. However, there were some major issues when the PTA head was white. Apparently the principal wasn't going to let that go too far. (check the archives, there were definitely threads discussing this). Tubman is at an ongoing disadvantage in that Columbia Village Public Housing feeds to it and that is a notoriously troubled complex and the root of quite a bit of crime and violence in CH. PP are right, look in sections of Petworth to be IB for Barnard, West, Powell and maybe even Bruce Monroe.
Signed, '
former CH resident, but had a kid and moved to Petwroth.

I'm always baffled by these Tubman threads. Their scores are SO much higher than the other schools you mention--something good must be going on, but DCUMers are too scared to find out.

The other goofy thing is that it feeds to CHEC, which is dual language, but Tubman is not. Very poorly thought out (as it typical).

Same issue with Cooke. But then you have a school like Bancroft that doesn't. Again, not very well thought out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tubman definitely has a core group of very supportive parents. However, there were some major issues when the PTA head was white. Apparently the principal wasn't going to let that go too far. (check the archives, there were definitely threads discussing this). Tubman is at an ongoing disadvantage in that Columbia Village Public Housing feeds to it and that is a notoriously troubled complex and the root of quite a bit of crime and violence in CH. PP are right, look in sections of Petworth to be IB for Barnard, West, Powell and maybe even Bruce Monroe.
Signed, '
former CH resident, but had a kid and moved to Petwroth.

I'm always baffled by these Tubman threads. Their scores are SO much higher than the other schools you mention--something good must be going on, but DCUMers are too scared to find out.

The other goofy thing is that it feeds to CHEC, which is dual language, but Tubman is not. Very poorly thought out (as it typical).